Digital cameras

I too found that repairing my Canon S30 cost almost the same as buying a new one. Instead I bought an Olympus Stylus 300. It isn't waterproof but is advertised as weather resistant. So far no problems with taking pictures with wet hands. It's 3.2 megapixels and they do have one at 4.2 meg. It takes an extremely small xd picture card, about the size of a postage stamp. I did upgrade to a 128m card as they only provide a 16m with the camera. The pictures have turned out very well. I recently took a bunch of shots at a friends wedding and they've made several 8 x 10's from them.:beer2

I feel the same way about digital SLRs. However, I probably won't buy one for a while until full-size CCD or CMOS chips percolate down into consumer versions. Current digital SLRs (with two exceptions, the $7500 Canon EOS 1Ds and the equally expensive Kodak/Nikon Pro 14dn)use chips that are about 2/3 the size of a 35mm film frame and which 'sees' only the center of the image. This results in an effective magnification ratio of about 1.6 times the focal length of the lens being used. So a 50mm 'normal' lens effectively becomes an 85mm, etc. That's good if you shoot a lot of telephoto shots. But a 24mm wide angle is reduced to just 35mm and it takes an expensive 13mm fisheye to yield the same angle as a 20mm lens on a film camera. I'll wait for now.

Worth a trip to FRY's electronics. New store right off 405/Sunset in Renton. If it plugs into a wall or needs batteries they HAVE it! Great place to comparison shop or even purchase. {NO, I don't work there or have any stock!}

Either the 400 or the s230 is nice and both can be purchased with a waterproof case. The nice thing about the s230 is that it’s smaller than a pack of filter less Camels. I use it for rock coming to get some very nice shots. (3.2 meg.) It’s all personal choice though. I chose Canon because it’s the only one with a Stainless Steel case. Stainless beats plastic and Al any day in my book, but then I'm a stubborn Finn.
Sisu, its what America needs

It was a very happy day about 6 months ago when I sold my last film camera. Not having to deal with slides and slide scanners anymore is a huge relief and requires a fraction of the effort, although the slide scanner would make 8 bit images approx. 25 mgs while the Digital SLR RAW images max out at around 8mgs, JPEGs at around 6.1 megs. I got a Nikon D100, I absolutely love it, a fair amount of my image gallery was taken with it. The unfortunate part was that all my lenses were Canon SD(manual) and obviously none of the Digital SLRs would accept such anchient technology and decent lenses for the nikon cost about as much as the camera body. There is definately some focal length concerns, but personally I will live with it and learn to frame images differently.

I used to have a canon s230, then upgraded to the s400. They are amazing little cameras. The s400 is worth the additional price, not because it's 4mp instead of 3.2, rather because it has 3x optical zoom versus 2x. I took test shots with each, and it's surprising how much better 3x is. I'm not sure why, but it seems more than just 50% better.

I need that waterproof case (it's on my amazon wishlist). Several times I've balked at crossing a river to reach a good hole, fearing I'd dunk my camera. I guess I should at least ziplock it or something...

This is a very sore subject with me. I only post it so others might profit.
When I went up on the Skeena and tribs., I wanted some pics. of some twenty pounders, not unrealistic on those rivers. You know, just a few to flash around the Gallery.
So I asked my daughter to borrow hers. She shrinks back and says no because she thinks I'll loose it and how important it is to her.
I reminder of the things that I have loaned her down through the years (32). Newe cars, all sorts of motorized equipment and the use of my house when I was fishing in Canada.
So she forked over.
Guess what? Yup, I lost it. Don't know where or when or if stolen. Just sick about it. She gets another one, a Canon. And I get the bill, about $450 plus T.
Just sick. And don't tell me about my home owner's policy. $500 deductible. And no, it's not in the truck or trailer. I 've looked 473 times.
Bob, the Just Sick :bawling :bawling :bawling :bawling

Pentax has a new water resistant digital model coming out the end of this month,Pentax Optio 33WR it will sell for about $350.00 It is 3.2 MP.
I have a Pentax IQZ 105 WR film camera that I have been using the last few years on the water and its been a good camera. The Olympus digital WR has not got good reviews.